Last October six members of our worship team attended the Catalyst conference in Atlanta and received the challenge for each of us to raise $100. It didn’t take long for us to come up with an idea – we would present a coffee-concerthouse event that was open to the public, with all of the proceeds going to HOPE International. We were all excited about the opportunity to bring this back to our church and to the members of our team who were unable to attend. What a great mission opportunity for our team! The day of our “Night of Hope,” as we called it finally came….with a forecast of snow that evening! In eastern North Carolina, where we live, that usually means everything is cancelled before the first snowflake is even seen. What to do? We had already received donations of coffee and desserts to serve at the event, so rescheduling would have meant starting all over. But we were also afraid that there would be very few attending, as most would not venture out into wintry weather. We were pleasantly surprised. Although the attendance was somewhat low, as we had expected, generosity was at an all-time high! Over $3000 was raised for us to send to HOPE International. We had a great, uplifting time afterwards imagining how many people that might help. In the end, this was such a neat melding of worship, fellowship, and service for our team and our congregation. We’ve already been asked when we’re doing it again!